Candles For The Souls Of Slaughtered Children In Syria

[Avaaz, a global campaigning human rights organization said on Thursday July 28 2011 that almost 3.000 Syrians have been “disappeared”. One person disappears by each hour since the start of the uprising against President Bashar Assad in March 15 2011. Over 1.634 have been killed, over 26.000 have been arrested, and many of the arrested were beaten and tortured. 12.617 persons are still in detention according to the organization].

The Syrian regime derives its power from its commitment to preserving the interests of Israel and from its silence on the Israeli occupation of the Golan Heights, and from the covert support of the USA and the European countries within their support for Israel. Another big source of the power of this regime is the silence of all the other dictatorial Arab regimes, who are scared that the “virus” of the revolution and the winds of change will arrive at their countries.

Austria- Vienna – Under the title “Light a candle for the souls of our children” a protest event against the brutal murder of Syrian children at the hands of the Syrian army and intelligence service was held yesterday July 30 2011 at the Aula of the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in the first district of Vienna. Over 100 children have been captured, tortured, jailed and murdered in a barbaric way at the hands of the Syrian authorities during the protests taking place in Syria which demand the demission of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad and the ruling of Al-Baath Party, which has lasted forty years. Placards with the names of murdered children were hanged in two long lists before the audience. Similar events were held in 27 other countries.

The Austrian and Syrian flags were raised at the entrance of the Academy. Lit candles for the souls of the murdered Syrian children were seen in front of a large Syrian flag hung near the main entrance of the Academy. In the hall, an expressive exhibition of documentary images, which showed the bloody massacres perpetrated by the military regime under of deceased Syrian President Hafez Al-Assad (father) and the current regime of his son, President Bashar al-Assad, massacres during which thousands of Syrians were exterminated. (Klick once on the picture to make it bigger). (انقر مرة واحدة على الصورة المصغرة من أجل تكبيرها).

At 19:00, hundreds of Syrians and representatives of several political, social, and religious organizations arrived the academy. Dr. Ala’a El-Din Al-Hallaq, head of Association of the Syrian community in Austria, Mr. Jamal Morad, head of the Islamic Cultural Foundation, Miss Marie-Therese Kiriaky, founder and head of the Association of Arab Women in Vienna, Hisham El-Baba, Samir Abu-Al-Laban, as well as many dozens of Austrians supporters, among them the honor guests,Dipl, Engineer Omar Al-Rawi, a member of the city council of Vienna for the Socialist Democratic party (SPÖ), Mr. Christoph Mauz, an Austrian actor and book writer who has won several prizes, and Mr. Fritz Edlinger, Secretary General of Society for Austro-Arab Relations and others.

The honor guests Mr. Edlinger, Engineer Al-Rawi and Mr. Mauz gave speeches after a brief presentation by Syrian community and a short film shows the murder of the Syrian children. The guest speakers all condemned the brutal murder of Syrian children and the criminal measures against the Syrian demonstrators. They all condemned the intellectual terrorism, the wanton arrests and the military confrontation to peaceful marches. They emphasized the right of peoples to change the regime and to build a democratic society.

The speakers condemned the killing of the Syrians and called for an immediate end of the slaughter of children in Syria. They called on Syrians and also on all Arabs to unite among themselves in order to achieve the goals of the revolution that broke out in their country.

The meeting included three musical presentations and concluded with an open buffet of traditional Syrian food made by the members of the Arab Women’s Association.

No Arabs besides Syrians attended this event out of scare that they could be reported to the intelligence services of their respective countries. Iraqis, Jordanians, Egyptians, Tunisians and others did not attend. Not even Syrians married to nationals of other Arab countries attended. I can tell the Syrians and all other Arab peoples that the root cause of the existence of brutal dictatorships and occupations is the israeli occupation of Palestine, and that while this occupation continues, nothing will change in other Arab countries except the names of these western-backed despots.